Auxiliary steering device for toy vehicles



Feb. 5, 1952 o, w, DENNY 2,584,561

AUXILIARY STEERING DEVICE FOR TOY VEHICLES Filed April 10, 1948 2 SI-iEET S--SHEET l 1952 o. w. DENNY AUXILIARY STEERING DEVICE FOR TOY VEHICLES Filed April 10, 1948 2 SHEEIS-aSHEE-T .g

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Patented Feb. 5, 1952 AUXILIARY STEERING DEVICE FOR TOY VEHICLES Oscar ;W. Denny, Greensboro, N. 0. Application April 10, 1948, Serial No. 20,224

1 Claim.

1 This invention relates to improvements in a toy vehicle.

It is an object of this invention to provide a toy vehicle imitative of a miniature automobile, said vehicle, having a means connected to the front wheels for steering the front wheels, said means extending upwardly through the vehicle and having an extension handle pivotally connected thereto, said extension handle being adapted to be grasped by a person for propelling the vehicle and by turning the extension handle on its longitudinal axis, one way or the other, as desired, the person may steer the front wheels of the vehicle.

Thus, with these ends'in view, it is apparent that the moral effect on the operator of this type of vehicle would be such that the operator of the vehicle would feel as though said operator were actually driving an automobile of much larger dimensions and could well imagine ones self sitting within the automobile although the operator of the automobile would be walking and pushing the vehicle.

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Figure l is a top plan view of a toy vehicle with parts broken away and showing this invention applied thereto;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken along the line 22 in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional View taken substantially along the line 33 in Figure 1.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numeral [9 indicates a sheet metal body, which may be of any desired shape, but in this instance it is shown to be in the shape of a miniature racer. This body It is supported at its rear end on an axle I l which penetrates the body 10 at each side thereof and this axle'l I has, rotatably mounted on each end thereof, ground wheels l2 and i3, which are confined on the axle H by nuts i4 and i5 respectively, which are threadably secured on the ends of the axle I I.

The front end of the body [3 is supported on a horizontally disposed transverse bar Zfi, the upper surface of which is engaged by inturned ears 2! and 22 and these are integral with the body Ill. These inturned ears 2| and 22 are penetrated by screws 23 and 24, respectively, which also penetrate the transverse bar 20 and are secured to the same .by nuts 25 and 25, respectively, which threadably engage the lower ends of the screws 23 and 24.

The transverse bar 20 extends beyond the remote vertical surfaces of the body In and the opposed ends of the horizontally disposed transverse bar 2|] are penetrated by the lower ends of vertically disposed rivets and 3| which extend upwardly. The upper surface of the horizontally disposed bar 20 is engaged by washers 32 and 33 which surround the rivets 30 and SI, respectively, and the upper surfaces of the washers 32 and 33 are engaged by longitudinally extending lever bars 34 and 35 which are pivotally mounted on the vertically disposed rivets 30 and 3|.

The longitudinally extending lever bars 34 and. 35 extend forwardly of the bar 20 and have fixedly mounted therein one end of axles 36 and 37 respectively. The axles 36 and. 3'! project outwardly from each of the bars 34 and 35 and have, rotatably mounted thereon, suitable ground wheels 49 and t I The horizontally disposed lever,

bars 34 and 35 extend rearwardly and are slidably penetrated by vertically disposed rivets 42 and 43 respectively. These rivets 42 and 43 extend downwardly below the horizontally disposed bars 34 and 35 and are fixedly secured in a transverse steering link 15 which has a bore 46 therethrough which is penetrated by a vertically disposed portion ii of an angularly disposed steering arm 50.

The angularly disposed steering arm 50 extends rearwardly and upwardly and. loosely penetrates a bar 6| which has rearwardly turned cars 62 integral therewith and these ears 62 secure the bar 6| to the walls of the body H], by any suitable means such as bolts 63 and this bar 60 serves to support the steering arm 50.

The steering arm 59 extends rearwardly at an angle and loosely penetrates a dash board 5! disposed in thebody It. This dash board 5| is integral with a horizontally disposed floor portion 52 and this horizontally disposed fioor portion 52 has extending rearwardly and upwardly therefrom a sheet metal portion 53 which is turned rearwardly as at 56. to thus secure the same in an opening 55 of the body It. This upwardly extending portion 53 also has penetrating the same a downturned ear 56 of the body H] to thus assist in securing the upwardly extending portion 53 and the dash board associated therewith, in the body It. The steering arm 56 extends rear- Wardly of the dash board 5i and has an upturned portion 60 integral therewith.

This toy vehicle may be propelled by a child creeping along the fioor on which the vehicle is disposed, and by turning the upwardly extending portion 60 of the steering arm 50 to the right or to the left, the child may move the front wheels for steering the same. However, inasmuch as it is necessary for one to stoop over or to creep along the floor when moving this vehicle, in its present form, I provide an extension arm 65 having an elongated slot 66 adjacent its lower end which is restricted at its lower end, as at B1, and this slot is penetrated by the upwardly extending portion 60 of the steering arm 56.

The purpose er the elongated slot 68, being restricted at its lower end as at 67, is to permit the person pushing this toy vehicle to vary the angle at which the extension arm at is held relative to the steering arm 56 and to retain control of the steering arm 56, The steering arm 65 may be of any desired length and it is penetrated, at

movement of said crank, the steering rod can be rotated on its own longitudinal axis for steering the front wheels of the toy vehicle, an extension steering shaft having a, slot in its lower end for receiving the crank portion on the upper end of said steering rod, said slot being wider at the upper end thereof than at the lower end and having diverging side walls to permit variation of the angle at which the extension steering shaft is held relative to the steering rod, said extension steering shaft comprising a single shaft having a bore in the upper end thereof and being provided with a transverse member positioned in said bore its free end, by a transverse handle-bard? which is secured in the arm 65 by any suitable means such as a dowel pin 68.

It is thus seen that by twisting the extension arm to the right or left along its longitudinal axis, the front wheels may be turned to steer the toy vehicle, as desired.

In the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred; embodiment of, the

inventiomand although specific terms are employed, they are used, in a generic and descriptive sense only, andnot forpurposes of limitation, the scope of the inventionbeing defined in the claim.

I claim:

In a toy vehicle having dirigible front wheels and having a steering rod, for steering the front wheels, said steering rod extending upwardly and rearwardly and having a right angular crank portion on its upper end, whereby upon manual for imparting rotation thereto, and whereby upon rotation of the extension steering shaft along its longitudinal axis, movement of the steering rod along its longitudinal axis may be effected. OSCAR W. DENNY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

V UNITED STATES PATENTS Number 

